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COMMUNICATION  PROM  POSTMASTER  GENERAL. 


Confederate  States  of  America,      ) 

Postoffice  Department,  > 

Richmond,  Va.,  March  6,  1863.  ) 

Sir  :  Herewith  I  enclose  you  a  copy  of  a  correspondence  between 
Campbell  Wallace  Esq.,  President  East  Tennessee  and  Georgia  Rail- 
road Company,  and  myself  in  relation  to  mail  pay  on  railroads,  and 
other  subjects. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  H.  REAGAN, 

Postmaster  General. 
Hon.  W.  P.  Ckilton, 

Chairman  Com.  on  Postoffices  and  Postroads,  Ho.  Reps.  Conf.  Cong. 


Confederate  States  of  America,      ^ 

Postqjfice  Department,  > 

Richmond,  Vs.,  March   1,  18G3.  ) 

Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  of  the  1<ith  February,  ult.,  was  received  by 
due  course  of  mail,  and    I    have  been  prevented  from  answering  it 

sooner  by  a  pressure  of  business.  J  can  but  thank  you  for  the  gene- 
rous and  patriotic  expression  of  your  views  recommending  a  reduction 
of  the  mail  pay  to  railroads  to  a  uniform  rule  of  fifty  dollars  per 
mile,  during  the  Avar,  as  a  means  of  enabling  the  Postoffice  Depart- 
ment to  keep  up  the  mail  service.  At  a  convention  of  the  officers 
and  representatives  of  the  railroad  companies,  which  was  held  at 
Montgomery  soon  after  the  organization  of  our  Government,  they 
cheerfully  and  patrotically  met  the  views  of  the  Department  by  con- 
senting  to   a  reduction   of  the   rates   of  mail  pay. 

But  this  consent  was  coupled  with  a  resolution  which  required  a 
'considerable  increase  of  expenditure  by  the  Department  for  the  pay- 
ment of  messenger  service,  which  had  before  that  time  been  paid  by 
the  railroad  companies.  And,  on  the  whole,  the  reduction  of  the 
cost  of  railroad  service  has  not  been  reduced  as  much  as  was  at  the 
time  expected.  As  bearing  on  your  proposition,  I  would  mention 
that  at  the  railroad  convention  recently  held  at  Augusta,  the  proceed- 
ings of  which  I  have  not  yet  seen,  I  have  been  informed  a  resolu- 
tion was  adopted  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  urge  upon 
Congress  the  propriety  of  increasing  the  rates  of  mail  pay  to  railroad 
companies.  If  I  am  correctly  informed  as  to  this,  it  would  indicate 
that  they  would  not  probably  consent  to  the  reduction  you  so  patrioti- 
cally propose. 

I  have  for  some  time  past  been  endeavoring  to  accommodate  the 
views  of  the  officers  of  many  lines  of  railroad,  I  may  say  of  nearly 
all,  by  agreeing  with  them  to  the  arrangement  of  schedules  at  a  rate 
of  speed  of  about,  fifteen  miles  per  hour,  instead  of  the  present 
schedules.  This  they  represent  to  me  as  made  necessary  on  account 
of  the  difficulty  of  keeping  up  the  motive  power  and  rolling  stock  of 
the  several  roads  as  well  as  from  the  difficulty  of  getting  iron  to  repair 
tli?  roads.  If  this  slower  rate  of  speed  shall  be  adopted,  I  am  advised 
it  will  be  beneficial  to  the  roads  by  facilitating  transportation.  And 
for  this  and  the  decreased  speed  in  the  transmission  of  the  mails, 
which  is  the  special  advantage  derived  from  conveying  them  by 
railroad,  they  may  possibly  consent  to  some  reduction  of  present 
rates  of  pay.  If  our  railroads  would  consent  to  the  rates  of 
mail  pay  received  by  those  of  other  countries,  it  would  greatly 
relieve    the    Department,    and    possibly   enable   it    to  pay   its    own 


* 

expenses  without  a  further  reduction  of  the  mail  facilities  of  the 
country.  And  when  the  current  amount  of  transportation  gives 
them  full  employment,  as  at  present,  and  especially  if  slow  schedules 
should  be  agreed  on,  so  as  to  favor  transportation,  and  while  mes- 
enger  service  is  paid  for  by  the  Department,  I  can  see  no  good 
reason  why  they  might  not  agree  to  a  reduction  of  mail  par. 

A  reduction  of  the  railroad  pay  for  transportation  of  the  mails  to 
a  maximum  rate  of  one  hundred  dollars  per  mile  would  produce  a 
saving  to  the  Department  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand, 
three  hundred  and  ten  dollars  (175.310  00.)  And  a  reduction  to  a 
maximum  of  fifty  dollars  per  mile  would  produce  a  saving  of  four 
hundred  and  eighteen  thousand,  four  hundred  and  ninety-five  dollars 
(418, 49-5  00.)  A  reduction  of  the  expenses  of  the  Department  by  an 
amount  equal  to  this  latter  sum,  if  it  can  be  made,  would  enable  the 
Depirtment  to  meet  its  future  liabilities,  it  is  believed,  without  fur- 
ther additional  aid  from  the  Treasury  and  without  the  necessity  of 
future  reductions  of  the  service. 

While  I  do  not  regard  it  as  probable  that  the  railroads  would  con- 
sent to  this  latter  reduction,  I  should  have  hopes  that  they  might 
consent  to  deductions  to  a  maximum  of  seventy-five  dollars  per  mile, 
with  the  twertty-five  per  cent,  allowed  for  night  service  when  per- 
formed, upou  the  arrangement  of  such  slower  schedule  as  will  accom- 
modate their  freight  and  travel.  I  will  call  the  attention  of  the  com- 
mittee on  postoffices  and  postroads,  of  the  two  houses  of  Congress  to 
your  recommendation,  that  they  may  give  it  such  consideration  as  its 
importance  requires.  In  answer  to  that  portion  of  your  letter  in 
which  you  suggest  that  I  withdraw  my  recommendation  for  an  increase 
of  the  postage  on  newspapers,  and  for  the  repeal  of  the  law  author- 
izing the  sending  of  newspaper  exchanges  through  the  mails  free  of 
postage,  I  would  say  that  these  recommendations  were  not  made  on 
account  of  any  hostility  to  newspapers  or  on  account  of  a  want  of 
appreciation  of  their  general  usefulness,  or  the  special  and  great 
service  they  have  rendered  our  country  in  the  struggle  through  which 
we  are  passing.  I  agree  with  you  in  the  belief  that  the  history  of 
the  world  does  not  furnish  evidence  that  the  press  has  ever  before  been 
more  free,  as  a  general  thing,  from  personality  or  licentiousness,  in 
times  of  either  peace  or  war  than  it  has  been  in  the  Confederate 
States  for  the  last  two  years,  and  that  no  government  was  ever  more 
nobly  and  patriotically  sustainded  by  the  press  than  ours.  But  the 
same  just  meed  of  praise  may  with  equal  propriety  be  bestowed  on 
those  who  compose  our  gallant  and  faithful  armies,  and  those  who, 
unable  to  go  to  the  tented  field,  both  men  and  women,  have  volun- 
tarily contributed  so  much,  and  to  the  amount  of  untold  thousands 
freely  and  without  price,  to  sustain  them  ;  yet  it  is  not  proposed  to 
give  these  any  special  immunities,  or  to  foster  their  industry  at  the 
expense  of  other  pursuits.  And  these  recommendations  were  made 
because  their  adoption  would  add  to  the  revenues  of  the  department, 
and  so  far  aid  in  securing  postal  facilities  to  the  country,  without 
inflicting  a  wrong  on  any,  and  because  it  is  contrary  to  the  principles 
of  our  government  and  the  genius  of  our  institutions  to  foster  or 


promote  any  part  of  it.  or  any  of  its  citizens  at  the  expense  of  others. 
He  -who  eats  must  pay  for  his  food  ;  ami  ho  who  reads  ought  to  pay 
for  his  books  and  papers.  The  State  governments  may,  if  they  think 
proper,  make  provision  for  the  education  of  the  people,  but  the  Con- 
federate government  has  no  such  power. 

"Hut  independently*of  the  questions  of  policy  and  power,  so  far  as 
the  publishers  of  papers  are  concerned,  they  arc  not  at  all  agreed  as 
to  the  propriety  or  justice  of  authorizing  the  transportation  of  ex- 
changes through  the  mails  free  of  postage.  Soon  after  the  organisa- 
tion of  our  Government,  and  preparatory  to  my  first  recommendations 
on  the  subject,  from  personal  interviews  and  correspondence,  I  ascer- 
tained that,  in  the  main,  the  costly  daily  papers  were  opposed  to  it, 
while  the  smaller  papers,  less  frequently  issued,  generally  favored  it. 
This,  as  it  was  explained  to  me,  arose  from  the  fact  that  the  publishers 
of  dailies,  when  applied  to  for  an  exchange  with  less  costly  papers, 
found  it  to  be  regarded  as  rather  injudicious  to  refuse  such  exchanges, 
while  to  make  them  was  to  submit  to  a  tax  equal  to  the  difference  in 
the  value  of  the  papers  in  each  case.  And  while  there  is  no  compul- 
sion to  make  free  exchanges,  the  above  is  an  illustration  of  the  prac- 
tical operation  of  the  law  in  the  class  of  cases  referred  to. 

You,  no  doubt,  observed  too  that,  even  at  the  increased  rate  of  pos- 
tage on  newspapers  which  I  recommend,  one  newspaper,  weighing 
three  ounces,  would  be  sent  from  Richmond  to  Knoxville  for  one  cent, 
while  correspondents  would  have  to  pay  sixty  cents  for  three  ounces 
weight  of  single  letters  between  the  same  points.  I  only  recom- 
mended such  an  increase  of  postage  on  newspapers  as  I  hoped  Con- 
gress would  adopt,  and  not  what  my  own  convictions  of  justice  and 
propriety  induced  me  to  think  would  be  really  right  and  proper.  So 
that,  while  appreciating  the  high  motives  which  prompted  your  views, 
I  am  led  to  a  different  conclusion  from  yours  on  the  subject. 
With  much  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 
(Signed,)  JOHN  H.  REAGAN, 

Postmaster  General. 

Campbell  Wallace,  Esq  , 

Preset  E.  Term,  and  Ga.  R.  R.  Co.,  Knoxville,  Term. 


Offick  East  Tknn.  and  Ga.  Railkoad,      ) 
Knoxville,  February  10th,  1863.  $ 

Hon.  Jno.  II.  Reagan,  Postmaster  General  C.  S.  A.y 

Richmond,  Va.  : 

Dear  Sir  :  In  view  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  Congress  making 
appropriations  out  of  the  Confederate  Treasury  for  the  support  of  the 
Postoffice  Department  after  March,  and  aware  of  the  great  reduction 
of  mail  facilities  that  must  take  place  after  that  time  in  order  to  make 
that  department  self  sustaining,  as  required  by  the  Constitution,  I  sug- 


gest  that  it  would  be  proper  for  Congress  to  limit  the  price  to  be  paid 
the  railroad  companies  for  carrying  the  mails  to  fifty  dollars  per  mile, 
commencing  the  first  of  April,  and  to  continue  until  the  end  of  the 
war,  and  no  longer. 

I  am  satisfied  that  the  railroad  companies  of  the  Confederate  States 
would  cheerfully  acquiesce  in  such  a  law  rather  than  the  people  should 
be  restricted  in  their  postal  facilities.  I  would  make  the  rate  uniform, 
giving  to  all  the  roads  the  fifty  dollars  per  mile,  as  it  is  not  so  much 
the  weight  of  the  mails  carried  that  enters  into  the  cost  of  the  trans- 
portation, as  it  is  the  preparation  for  the  work,  and  that  expense  is 
about  the  same  per  mile  to  the  second  and  third  class  roads  as  it  is  to 
the  first.  For  instance,  this  company,  under  your  classification,  are 
receiving  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  mile,  while  some  other 
roads,  carrying  lighter  mails,  but  at  an  equal  expense,  receive  only 
one-third  of  that  sum. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  intimating  that  the  price  now 
paid  first  class  roads  for  mail  service  is  too  much.  On  the  contrary, 
my  experience  in  many  years  of  railroad  management  has  been  that 
often  I  would  gbdly  have  given  up  the  mail  contracts  rather  than 
adopt  schedules  which  were  necessary  for  mail  facilities,  when  I  knew 
that  such  schedules  would  lose  the  company  in  local  travel  five  dollars 
for  every  one  received  from  the  government  for  carrying  the  mail. 
But  our  government  is  now  in  its  infacy,  this  is  the  day  of  our  trial, 
and  from  many  years'  intercourse  with  the  gentlemen  who  control  the 
railways  in  the  Confederate  States,  I  do  not  feel  that  I  am  hazarding 
much  when  I  say  that  you  will  find  them,  without  exception,  acquies- 
cing in  such  a  law,  not  grudgingly,  but  cheerfully. 

The  result  to  the  finances  of  the  Postoffice  Department,  while  not 
bearing  heavily  on  the  roads,  would,  according  to  the  figures  in  your 
report,  be  a  saving  of  not  less  than  a  half  million  of  dollars  per  an- 
num on  your  present  contracts,  which  saving  will  be  much  greater 
when  the  Confederate  States  will  have  reclaimed  her  railroads  and 
extended  her  mail  facilities  in  territory  now  overrun  by  the  Federals. 

In  this  connection  I  would  respectfully  suggest,  that  you  withdraw 
your  recommendation  to  increase  the  rate  of  newspaper  postage  and 
the  suggestion  to  tax  printing  establishments  with  postage  on  their 
exchanges.  I  cannot  well  conceive  of  any  one  thing  that  would  be 
more  disastrous  to  the  prosperity  of  our  young  Republic  than  any 
action  of  Congress  lessening  the  facilities  for  furnishing  the  people 
with  information,  or  transmitting  the  operations  of  those  engaged  in 
preparing,  in  suitable  form,  that  information  for  the  people.  The 
press  has  been  everything  to  us  in  this  crisis  and  should  not,  in  my 
opinion,  be  placed  alongside  with  the  ordinary  industrial  pursuits  of 
the  country.  Its  mission  is  to  elevate  man;  its  work  is  with  the  in- 
tellect; and  in  proportion  as  you  foster  a  virtuous  free  press,  you 
build  up  a  virtuous  free  people  and  make  them  strong  to  defend  that 
freedom.  The  history  of  the  world  does  not  furnish  evidence  that 
ever  before  has  the  press  been  more  free  from  personality  and  a  ten- 
dency to  licentiousness,  in  times  of  either  peace  or  war,  than  it  has 
been  in  the  Confederate  States  for  the  last  two  years,  and  never  be- 


6 

fore  has  a  Government  been  more  ably  and  patriotically  sustained  by 
the  press.  Give  the  newspaper  publishers,  then,  every  needed  facility 
for  cheap  transportation.  They  have  not  advanced  their  prices  in 
'proportion  to  their  increased  expenditures.  Newspapers,  to  circulate 
freely  ami  widely,  must  be  cheap — cheap  in  price,  cheap  in  postage. 
Like  Bait,  the  consumption  is  in  proportion  to  the  cost.  Cheap  salt 
creates  a  large  consumption,  and  hogs,  horses,  cattle,  sheep  and  ba- 
con, always  give  unmistakable  evidence  of  the  advantages  of  cheap 
salt.  £o  with  the  mind — the  man.  (Jive  communities  the  advantage 
of  cheap  books,  cheap  newspapers,  cheap  mail  facilities,  ami  you  will 
always  reap  a  rich  reward  in  good  morals  and  a  highly  cultivated  peo- 
ple, willing  to  sacrifice  all  else  than  the  right  to  govern  themselves; 
and  herein  lies  the  strength  and  power  and  success  of  the  Confederate 
States  in  this  unnatural  and  terrible  war. 
Truly,  your  friend, 

(Signed,)  C.  WALLACE, 

President. 


* 


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